Ariesjill

Blech.

Here in Manhattan, I believe right now, we pay the second highest price for electricity per killowatt hr in the country....I believe, given the Enron debacle, etc. Calif now earns this very dubious honor.

I am trying to employ every strategy I can to go on affording electricity, am trying to stomach the depressing light spectrum the compact flourescents yield (HATE THEM), ONLY us the A/C WHEN COMPANY MELTS INTO PUDDLE AND BEGS

The suggestions in article via this link...

http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/

....include don watch TV.....common, I am V resourceful and frugal but common....also says put yr computer into stand by or hibernation when not using it which I do't do.....when I am home, I would say my desktop is always on. I alsop hoped, when I replaced my VGA monitor with an LCD 4 my desktop, THAT might even reflect on my utiility bill. How naive was that? Way naive.

Pls everyone share yr strategies and tips.....we ain't seen nuthin yet re energy costs, given the olil industry is doing everything it can to, at least here.....preclude viable alternatives. And every time oil rises it costs us here hundred of thousands ofjobs....but right now, apart from determining to B a part of the solution, I wanna slow the apparently inexorable (blech) rise of my monthly Con Ed bill.

ebackhus

CFLs wherever you can put them. Turn off your PC and monitor if you're not at home. WALK PLACES. Don't leave the lights on when you're not in a room. Set your AC to 75F.

Ariesjill

Thanks, e....I do all that...working 2 get used to the ugly bulbs.....but every month Con Ed bill higher than previous mnth. When U R home.....do U put your puter on hibernate or stand by? I have never done this with my desktop. If I did, would it make a difference??????

ebackhus

I never use hibernate. It always screws something up. If I'll be out only for a short time I let it go into stand-by.

Ariesjill

Ahah!!!!!! My first desktop was old Compaq Presario I found in the garbage just had 2 buy a HDD for it on ebay.....and e.....every time I put it in hibernate it had breakdown! Good! I just learned sumhtin important. If only to me.

Starrin 2 look like I am already dolin all I can do re Con Ed bills. V sad.

sinclair_tm

i put my pc to stand-by sleep all the time. sometimes is days before i even remeber that its still just sleeping (at which time i've pulled the plug out to make room to plug something else in...) but the best thing is to just turn it off, even when your home. its amazing how much energy you save by just sitting there and stareing at the blank screen no really, best is to make sure that your fridge is working correctly, and seals, as well as the the a/c is tuned up to run at its best. those are going to be your real energy zappers. all the computers off and lights as floresents isn't going to help if your fridge, a/c, water heater and the like are not running effecently.

Ariesjill

Rich post, thanks!

Re my desktop, everything connected to it is plugged into a ruge protector. At the end ofr my desktop day, I run all my scans, defrag shut down Windows and pull the plug of the surge protector.

My fridge is fairly new and energy efficient....and I myself noiced gasket was twisting on main door....and I replaced it. U bet....myself....but U R right, fridge is like Norton.

My A/C also fairly new and energy efficient.....also have staff clean it eveyr season.....remove the Manhattan grime form the condenser coils.....chassis far 2 big for me to do this myself.....but it is also 13K BTUs and when compressor is enegaged at current Con Ed rates.....staggeringly expensive even with thermostat low. So now....I only use it when I have compnay.

I should also pull the main plug in my stereo cabinet....as the components use energy even when idle....I HATE THIS VERY MUCH, Ok? I am as human as anyone.

40sondacurb

you save on heating if you live where it's 68+ every winter.

Ariesjill

Blessing I nevah take 4 granted: in my building (visible on Google street Maps, OMG!!!!) we don't pay for heating......have glorious, two stories' high, heaitng plant room, HALF OF WHICH IS A STORY below our actual basement....remembah Manhattan is ROCK.....cost close 2 1M, THE NEW ONE......so gorgeous industrially I sometimes wish I could live there. State of the art....and two huge boilers like from a great ocena liner in movie.... I should make pics and post them!!!!!!

But also true....this building is famous landmark. So the opposite of energy efficient....given we have casement windows and to comport with the architectral purity and retain landmark status....we can not change those.. So oil bills thru the roof bigtiime......in winter we sometimes use 700-900 gallons a DAY. wE USE #6.

Kalim

Pay high (too expensive is the right word) money to use 84-87% efficient PSUs.

Since I have so many systems running for professional reasons and even at the places I manage as part of my profession, power wasted could easily be in MWs a day. But we purchased the best and most efficient out there so instead of drawing 900W for a 600W PSU, our systems draw 680W VAC at max draw. With PSUs higher up from 1500W to 5400W, they are above 90% efficient industrial grade PSUs, which I've managed them to acquire in comparison to other corps and firms using 70% efficient ones. Massive savings there.

I'm sehr hot blooded by nature of my activity, so wasteful heating is very rare. More like warm clothing and another body if heat be required.

Monitors are usually switching off if you leave them idle for 3 minutes. System standby is set at 10 minutes and hibernate is set at 15 minutes. And if I'm not in need of any professional equipment to use, I switch all electrical waste off and just power up my Duron 1300MHz which pulls 44W from the wall on average. You won't see any lights wasted wherever I'm visiting or temporarily staying.

There's much more. And BTW I ride a bike (recreation too, as in mountain biking) and walk more than most average guys my age do, at least 4-5 miles in one go a day. This is more to do with staying modest, humble and following good morals and principles than a reaction to any climatic state. General shop-friend visit is never by transport. Maybe a horse though, if I happen to be in a country where I own one.

Cars.. well I don't trade anymore, nor own garages anymore, so there.

But where I'm at doesn't have the massive generator power waste problem as in the States and the power the sockets here provide is much more, cleaner and more efficient than in US, so overall much less is always wasted with domestic and wall socket products.

Ariesjill

OK so....if Ihave now a 300W PSU....moved up from 250 cause Joseph on this site suggessted that.....would it make a diffof any significance if I put this desktop into hibernation?

Kalim

Depends what you're power draw is to be frank.

For instance: a typical system will draw 250W VDC max and 100W VDC idle. That 250W draw is not what you've pulled from the wall but what is converted to use by the system (Direct Current). VAC pulled from the wall depends on your PSU efficiency and power factor correction too.

So if a system uses 100W VDC from the PSU, but is 70% efficient at those loads, it will be pulling 142.8W VAC from the wall to convert it into 100W.

Basically 43W is wasted.

Ariesjill

OK, Kalim, this is one of those situations where focusing on the leaves of the trees precludces getting viiable, differential data/leaves obfuscate the trunk
Again, it's like knowing the Latin names of plants a genius horticulturist does not make.....or owning academic data in medicine does not make a gifted diagnostician.......not that everything arcane doesn't interest me.....but it always ends up being far less important than differential Eyes by Marcel.

Wut is yur differential sense given the specs U now have about my desktop?

My intuitive/imaginative take now....is that given the specs......going the hibernation route would not make a dent in my Con Ed bill. But I could be wrong.

Kalim

I have no idea how much power your system uses on average. Something only a Kill-A-Watt or Power Angel can tell. It depends what is happening on the OS at the time.

Hibernation cuts the power down to barely any, so it's far less wasteful than leaving the system up and running.

Ariesjill

O thank U. Now, would U say there would B little significant difference between a system with relatively small PSU like mine.....in hibernatin versus not but idling, Kalim?

Am starting to think I am nit picking with little upside potential given this is modest system....and i am trying to save mega money which, there may B no viable way for me 2 do

But if that is true....just kowing that would B precious. I would then resign myself to that I am doing best I can, no tricks out theah.....no getting away from being victim of all this disgusting and just log on and pay your ebill like a good girl. Or live without electricity as if that is some kind of option.
Wonder wut will happen when the uS dollar collapses totally? As if that were not a mouseclick away.

Go The Power

I usally hibernate my laptop

Drew1369

The biggest thing I see is with two story homes... I was living in one when I lived in Vegas... the temps get crazy hot... but back on topic is your A/c. If you live in a large house and have 2 A/c unti controls make sure both are ON or OFF if only one is running it will just eat up your money and you wont get it back as or it is working harder then both units combined to cool your house.

Also is CLOSE THAT DOOR AND WINDOW.

Another energy cost is to take a towel and lay it across the bottem of the door check all your window seals and door jams... on a cold day heat up your house and start running your hand along the seams and see if you can feel cold air flowing thru if you do replace those seals.

Look at getting your windows double paned that will save $hundreds a year.

Thats all I can think of around the home situations... most others here have the electronics under control.

Ariesjill

Hi again, Kalim....

I have posted specifics of my building in detail....forget actual images, some from SPACE, omg, some from a camerra with ELEVEN LENSES....GOOGLE STREET MAP= The Best Toy!

TOWEL TRICK=EXCELLENT, BEEN DOING THAT 4 A WHILE...serious issues resulting from no energy efficiency in this building which has Landmark Status....unless they change the Landmark laws here in Manhattan.....we can not compromise the artichectural elements.....so I just accept the downside.

It is wut it is, I guess.......need 2 buy more of the compact flourescents I despise deeply....incandescent no longer a real option, I guess. cept light spectrum oimpacts the pineal gland, OK? And the thymus I think......very subtle but major thingy......this is scientific fac t re our physilogy, OK? Ask Mr. Ott.....if, that is, he is alive which I have no clue about.

Cept I will Google and paste a clue.....trying to post between clients, am terible at this.
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Am in a hurry....but this was the first thing I found; I assume peole know about this important phenomenon re light specturm and hows it impacts living beings including humans. Don even care if Mr. Ott is alive or dead; I am 2 tired and must work now 2 pay next months more obscene Con Ed bill.
http://ottlite.com/catalog.asp
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Another edit:
I have no off swtich so here is one more. but I am sure all such fabulolus lamps R now unaffordable re energy.
http://inventors.about.com/gi/dynami...t.com/qna.html

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third Edit!

No wait!!!!! I just learned something amazing!!!1 Look at this! they use LESS ENERGY!!!!!!!
http://inventors.about.com/gi/dynami...t.com/qna.html

Omg! this is major!

Ariesjill

Edit re the above after window closed.....Pls forgive me....I am trying to work and post a la fois....total shame on me, I mean it.

I meant Spatcher....not Kalim.....SOOOOOO sorry....I must slow down and do one thing at a time.

Kalim

That's right. Little spaces where cold air enters can make your heating inefficient and wasteful.

Well, as a guesstimate I would reckon that P4 system would draw 65W VDC idle. The PM would draw less, let's say 25W VDC. Let's use a 75% efficient PSU at those loads, which now makes the VAC (wall power draw) readings to 87W for the P4 and 33W for the PM.

That's away from the monitor power waste. They do consume quite a bit of power; 80W for CRT and about 40W for LCD.

For all combined, you could be saving 125W VAC (just to take a round figure) by hibernating.

Let's convert that in monetary terms as the utility bill sees it:

120 watts * (8,760 hours/year)/1000 = 1095 kilowatt-hours

Left on 24/7 Ж

If you're in an area where the rate is, say, 15 cents/kWh (CEC in NY and San Diego Gas & Electric is getting higher IIRC depending on climate zone, season and plan), that comes to 15 x 1095 kilowatt-hours / 100 = $164 per annum.

So yeah a bit of stuff wasted and that's being conservative to an extent.